-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello. i'm don lemon, and this is cnn's top ten of 2012. this hour we look at the stories that captured our attention, what we see as the biggest stories of the year around the world. in crime, money, weather, and even the biggest scandals. and later this hour, the big reveal of the most intriguing people of the year as chosen by you. we begin with the topic that dominated our coverage for much of the year. here's cnn's chief political correspondent and anchor of state of the union candy krolly with the top political stories of 2012. >> picking the top ten moments of an election year is like finding your favorite grain of sand on the beach, there are an impossible number of possibilities. there are the moments when catch phrases become boomerangs. >> if you've got a business, you didn't build that.

>> i like being able to fire people that provide services to me. >> when cast members stole the spotlight. >> i'm an american woman who uses continue semgs, so let's start there. >> it's like an etch-e-sketch. shake it up and start over again. >> a fair number of moments ranging from ridiculous to -- >> this is cnn breaking news. >> pardon the interruption, everyone, i'm don lemon. you see it there at the bottom of your screen, hillary clinton in the hospital. we're just getting this -- i'm just reading this. we're told hillary clinton is in the hospital following an exam today. they are saying doctors discovered a blood clot had formed stemming from a concussion that she had sustained several weeks ago. she's being treated, we're told, with anticoagulants at the new york presbyterian hospital so they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours. as you know, doctors had been treating her for a stomach virus that they believe she was weak

from that, then she fell and that led to a concussion. and so when she went in for a checkup today, doctors discovered this clot, not exactly saying where this clot where doctors found it. again, we're getting new information in. bear with me, this is coming in as we're speaking. again, she's being treated with anticoagulants here. there's more information coming in here. this is a course of a follow-up exam today. secretary of state hillary clinton, doctors discovered a blood clot had formed, again, doesn't say where it had formed, stemming from the concussion she suffered several weeks ago. she's being treated, again, with anticoagulants at new york presbyterian hospital so they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours and her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion. they will determine if any further action is required. we haven't seen the secretary of state in quite some time because

she has been ill, and, of course, there's been some criticism that she has not gone before a committee to testify about the situation with the consulate in benghazi, libya, but as we know now and hearing from her doctors, the secretary of state is in poor health, at least relatively speaking for a woman who's been in good health since we have known her to be on the political scene since the 1980s. again, secretary of state hillary clinton has a blood clot, not exactly sure where, but a blood clot has formed in her body and she's in the hospital being treated now at new york presbyterian hospital. we'll give you more updates on cnn as soon as we get them, as soon as we get them, on hillary clinton. now back to our regularly scheduled programming. i'm don lemon. on the flip side. >> he's going to be the next vice president of the united states. romney's vp day may well have

been the best moment of his campaign, the selection of congressman paul ryan excited conservatives in a way romney himself had not. how many moments are there in an hour and a half? the president lost all of them in the first debate. the pictures tell the story of a man who phoned it in, panicking his supporters and providing an opening for romney. and finally, the top three moments of the election best described as history-making politics. a supreme court decision upholding the constitutionality of obama care, and if that doesn't strike you as political, consider what would have happened on the campaign trail if the high court had struck down the president's signature first-term achievement. >> at a certain point, i've just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> the first president to

endorse same-sex marriage was a daily double moment. good politics aimed at an activist wing of party base and most certainly history. and finally, the number one political moment of the year is easy during elections. >> cnn projects that barack obama will be reelected president of the united states. >> we are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. we are, and forever will be, the united states of america. >> cue the confetti and then say good-bye to 2012 and all its moments, historical and hysterical, candy krolly, cnn, washington. >> civil unrest, a new dictator, and a teen that took on the taliban. they are among our top ten international stories of 2012. here's cnn's zane vergi. >> can you believe it is already the end of the year? actually, the mayan calendar

said it would be the end of the world, but oh, my goodness, look at this, we're still here and we are heading into 2013. there were so many headlines this year, so many important stories of 2012, from conflict, hopelessness, to inspiration and hope and we also made sure we had a little bit of fun. take a look. number ten. >> welcome to london. >> the queen of england celebrated her diamond jubilee year. it rained on her float parade, but it didn't take the sparkle out of the magical moments. millions lined the streets, millions more tuned in for this famous wave. number nine. september 11th in benghazi, libya. u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three other americans killed in a terror attack on the u.s. diplomatic mission there. american officials first suggested it was spontaneous, sparked by a protest over a

controversial anti-muslim film. the white house's handling of the attack became a political hot button. number eight. a political transition in north korea, but no freedom here in the hermit kingdom. kim jong untook over for his father. at year's end, it flexed its military and technological muscle with its first rocket launch successfully placing a satellite in orbit. number seven. brutality by police and private security was out in the open in south africa where the killing of minors was captured on camera and broadcast everywhere. miners were protesting, demanding higher wages. the price they had to pay shocked the world. number six. ten more years. the communist party of china selected new leaders. the secretive process produced a

new president and l.a. lakers fan married to a rock star. but china's foreign policies are likely to stay the same, though the new leaders under pressure to deal with corruption and poverty at home. number five. mohamed morsi, a leader of the muslim brotherhood and islamist group became president of egypt. >> celebrate the victory of mohamed morsi. >> as his predecessor went on trial from his hospital bed, morsi impressed the west by helping to broker the cease-fire that ended an outbreak of warfare between hamas and israel. he then disappointed everyone by awarding himself sweeping powers at home, triggering outbursts of anger in tahrir square. number four. israel and hamas poured fuel on the fiery unrest in the region. one side firing rockets. the other launching missile

strikes against targets in gaza. for the first time, israel felt vulnerable in jerusalem in tel aviv, the site of this bus attack in the waning days of the conflict before the big guns of diplomacy helped broker a cease-fire. number three. in europe, greece was the problem child that spent too much, saved nothing, and threatened to take down the euro. new leadership didn't stop constant violent protests staged by those facing loss of jobs, pay cuts, higher taxes, as their weary government begs for more cash. europe's leaders, including the new french president, committed to save the euro. it lives on, but for how long? number two. >> the deadliest month to date as the assad regime intensified its use of air power. >> one of the questions most asked in 2012 was how much longer can this man hold on to

power, bashar a al-assad was under ever-more intense pressure to step down, but his regime stepped up the fire power against the opposition. civilians caught in the crossfire, more than 40,000 people have died so far. >> this is yet another bread line. >> the opposition fights on, making more dramatic gains than ever and gaining pledges of additional support from the international community. number one. she fought back from the brink of death after being attacked on a school bus. the taliban shot malala yousafzai in the head because she was an outspoken advocate for the education of girls in pakistan, but books won over bullets. the 15 year old miraculously survived. malala woke up in a british hospital, and according to her father, immediately asked for her school books. the world was gripped, moved, and inspired by the story of one

determined young girl facing down an entire network of armed militants and winning. zane vergi, cnn, london. next, the stories that made news for all the wrong reasons. criminal acts that claimed far too many lives. and later, scandal, professional athletes, national leaders, even the royal family. no one was immune from it in 2012. top ten of 2012 is brought to you by samsung galaxy note ii. the next big thing is here. or you could watch the earnings report and take notes, like we're supposed to. so... can i get it? yeah. okay either of you put together the earnings report yet? yes, me totally. what? why don't you tackle the next quarter. you eat yet? polynesian? pu pu platter? yup! keep up the good work. i will keep up the good work. do more with the new samsung galaxy note ii.

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[ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. this is cnn breaking news. >> i'm don lemon in cnn world headquarters in atlanta. the breaking news is secretary of state hillary clinton is in a new york hospital right now being treated for a blood clot. the secretary of state being treated for a blood clot. this all happened after she fell after suffering a stomach flu. she got dizzy and she went back in for a checkup and her doctors have told us, we've gotten word from a spokesperson that after that treatment today they noticed something unusual. they discovered a blood clot had formed stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago. here's the thing, one would assume because it was a concussion that it may be the clot might be in her brain or head. they are not saying that

specifically, so we don't know exactly where it was found. if she's being treated, it can be found anywhere, but she is being treated for a blood clot. she had sustained a concussion several weeks ago when she became dizzy and lost balance because she was sick. apparently, a stomach virus or a stomach flu. doctors at new york presbyterian are treating her with anticoagulants, we are told, so they can monitor the medication over the next couple of hours, 48 hours she's going to be in the hospital at least that long. they are going to continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion, then determine whether any further action is required. the interesting thing is that she had just been cleared to go back to work after suffering this. she sustained a concussion after becoming dehydrated and fainting on december 15th. ai lease labbit is in washington now.

alice, she had been cleared to return to work after the concussion and stomach flu, now we're hearing this. what do you know? >> really that's all we know, it's a cryptic statement, don, that she suffered this blood clot. and in a routine exams that she's been having, she has been regularly monitored by her doctors for the last several weeks since she had this stomach flu, since she had the concussions and they had cleared her to go back to work next week and there was one kind of final exam today, one last check, if you will, before she went back to work later in the week and they found this blood clot. obviously, something like that very serious. it's a good thing they caught it, because as you know, those kind of things can creep up on you and get very seriously. obviously, being monitored very closely over the next 48 hours. i'm pretty clear that she won't be coming back to work this week and we'll continue to hope she has a speedy recovery. >> elise, stand by and help me

out with this breaking news, she had been cleared to go to work after the nasty bout with the stomach flu and concussion that sidelined her, it was three weeks ago. from a spokesperson just a few days ago said the secretary continues to recuperate at home. she had long planned to take this holiday week off, and this was before, obviously, she went into the hospital today, with no work schedule. she spent the holidays with her family after working from home for the past week. her doctors in a statement released last weekend, the one before this one, said they told her to cancel all work events and rest and avoid any strenuous activity and she was recovering from a stomach flu when she fapted and suffered a concussion. now she was supposed to go back to work and testify about the consulate attack on september 11th in benghazi, but again,

this is not any sort of grave announcement. she, you know, went to the doctor and they found something and are treating it with medication. elise, stand by, because i want to go now to dr. -- i'm sorry? thank you. dr. keith black, he is a chairman of the department of neurosurgery at cedar sinai medical center. doctor, thank you very much for joining us. this is free flowing and we just got the information. if you've been able to read anything or hear us here on cnn, what can you tell us about this? >> obviously, there's very limited information that we have in the public, but the description of a blood clot actually is most likely to be a clot in the leg called a t.v.t. they use a more commonly caused by a person being immobilized for a long period of time and not having the venus blood flow

through the legs. if the treatment is to put her on a blood thinner or anticoagulation therapy, even though she had a recent concussion, one would have to assume that her mri scans, ct scans showed no evidence of bleeding inside the brain, because if there were bleeding in the brain that would be an indication to put one on a blood thinner. you know, and these are -- these clots that occur in the leg, if that is what she has, are fairly common as we get older, if one is immobilized. and the reason to put one on a blood thinner is to prevent these clots from getting larger and causing a clot that can basically break off and spread to the lungs causing a pulmonary emboli embolism, which at times can be fatal. >> usually the recommendation is if you're traveling overseas on flights, maybe possibly why her

doctor said no travel, they tell you to get up and move around. if you're stationary, have to be in the bed for a long time, they tell you to get up and move around. and we became aware of t.v.t., remember david bloom, the nbc correspondent during the gulf war, when that contributed to his death. so, again, this is -- again, making a leap here, we don't know how serious this is with hillary clinton, it could be minor, but that's how we learned about tvts. >> right, exactly right. these are not uncommon and something everyone should be aware of. i think it's a learning opportunity for your listening and viewing audience. the one thing, though, is that the way to prevent a blood clot from occurring in the leg is to be mobile, particularly if you have a long flight, get up, stretch your legs, move your feet around so that the blood

doesn't remain stagnant. but once you get a d.v.t., usually the treatment is to not move around too much until the blood thinners have had a chance to take effect, because you do not want to dislodge a clot that's already formed and have that clot break off and flow towards the lungs. >> so, again, you're assuming this and saying because of the type of injury and what's happened, is this sort of a classic case when something like this happens it's usually a d.v.t.? you don't think it's anything in her head? >> you know, when one describes a blood clot, the most likely scenario is a clot that occurs in the leg, although it could be a clot that occurs else where. if it's the report i heard the treatment they planned for the secretary is to put her on a blood thinner, then i would

essentially assume that there's not a clot within the brain. because one would not want to treat with blood thinners a person if they did have an active clot within the brain itself. >> uh-huh. doctor, can you stick with us, please, and help us through this coverage? we're going to take a quick break here, but i'm going to tell the viewers, this is breaking news coverage. hillary clinton, secretary of state, in the hospital now being treated for a blood clot. as you know, she got dizzy and fell after she suffered a stomach virus earlier in december and her doctors told her not to go back to work and so now hillary clinton in the hospital. we're going to have continuing coverage after a very quick break. don't go anywhere. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still "stubbed" up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose.

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don lemon here at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. the breaking news, secretary of state hillary clinton in the hospital being treated for a blood clot. i want to get directly now to our chief white house correspondent, jessica yellin. jessica, nearing the end of her tenure. >> she is ending her tenure. it has been an exceptional tenure in that she has hit a record for the amount of travel she's done. president obama called her tireless and extraordinary recently. she did 400 travel days, nearly 1 million miles, and it's sort of surprising to everybody that at the very tail end she's had this very rough bout with this last two weeks where she suffered the concussion and has been out of the spotlight, don. this is somebody who has been almost perpetually in the public eye and national consciousness

since she broke on to the scene during the clinton presidency. you know, the one thing that's so ironic about this is there were so many doubters who challenged the claim that she was even sick and said the reason she was ill and out of the public eye was because she was trying to remember duck those benghazi hearings, you remember that a few weeks ago, and there were critics who insisted she was hiding from trying to have to testify before congress. obviously, we know that's not the case and unfortunately it had to be proven by this circumstance. and so we know -- we've all known she has been sick, but everybody insisting she's going to be fine. it's sort of unfortunate that hillary clinton has to be wrapping up her tenure in this way. >> yeah, and i heard today on cnn there was a poll about who could be the next president of the united states and hillary clinton's name is high up on the list, if not number one when it comes to that.

and she has told -- during interviews, reporters, also her husband, former president bill clinton, that she doesn't want to do it, because by the time it came around, she felt she might be tired and too old for it. hillary clinton is 65 years old now and the work schedule and traveling all over the world, jess, is grueling. >> but i think -- there's also -- the way that it sounds like it unfolded, this illness, it was sort of a cascade effect, she got the flu, we all know the story now. after all this travel, it sounds like what she really needs is a break, and i wouldn't be surprised if despite all her denials and her staff denials and every democrat denials comes 2014, 2015, we see a hillary clinton for president campaign start to gear up. not that she's planning it now,

but it may be beyond her, might be so much demand for it in the democratic party that she ends up getting recruited. that's so far down the line, but she does emphatically rule it out right now. >> i also want to make the point 65 in this day and age is not old. we've had older men run for president, not saying hillary clinton can't do it, but in her own words has said that. no matter what your age, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, as much travel and as many hours as hillary clinton puts in, that is grueling on anyone. let's just be honest.

>> it was interesting to me, of all organizations, the nfl, the national football league, put out a statement in support of her, in essence saying if there's any organization that knows how damaging a concussion can be, it's the nfl. and as a society we shouldn't make light of this. one of the reasons is because you know when you have to testify, it's not just sitting there in front of the congressional committee and giving testimony that's challenging, but prepping for it and reading and doing what they call murder boards where people yell at you and challenge you as if you're preparing, which is jarring and aggravating to the brain and concussions are, you know, you have to rest the brain. also, absolutely, you know, at least can speak to what her travel schedule is like, elise has been on those trips with

her, our state department correspondent, but it is, it's exhausting. and the conditions are terrible, and you also have to go and stay up all night and eat whatever is served to you and be polite and good mannered at all times and never, you know, let them see you sweat, so to speak. it's very hard, and she does it, you know, with grace. whether you like her politics or not. she holds it together, and must be exhausted. >> jess, stand by. elise stand by as well. i'm going to talk to both of you, but we're going to continue our breaking news coverage here. hillary clinton, secretary of state, in the hospital being treated for a blood clot. we're following two breaking news stories. there's information on the fiscal cliff, as well. there's still negotiations going on in washington. we'll have updates on both these stories right after the break. ♪

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i'm don lemon in the cnn headquarters in atlanta. we're following two breaking news stories today, both out of washington, or at least washington involved. first you were, secretary of state hillary clinton in the hospital this hour being treated for a blood clot. doctors say they were treating her and looking at her after she fell and had a concussion and they found a clot and she's being treated with anticoagulants right now, in the hospital being monitored for the next 48 hours. also we're keeping a close eye on the fiscal cliff in washington where negotiations are under way now with just less than 30 hours away before we head over that fiscal cliff. before we get back to the clinton story, i want to check in now with liza, she's standing by watching all the negotiations going on. where are we, are we closer to any sort of resolution, lisa? >> reporter: i hate to say it, don, but we don't know. let me give you a summary,

because i know we have other breaking news about secretary clinton. point number one, negotiations right now are back to the point where it's between, essentially, two men. direct talks right now are between senate republican leader mitch mcconnell and vice president joe biden. biden is known for contacts in the senate and is called the senate whisperer, known as getting things through the senate when nobody else can. those are the two men in contact tonight trying to forge a deal. here's point number two, there was one battle today that democrats won, it was over something called the change cpa. it's basically a different way of calculating the cost of living. republicans wanted to use it in this deal, democrats did not. democrats stared down republicans and in the end, republican senators said we won't bring that up right now. that happened today. and point three, don, what's next? i'm afraid we won't know until tomorrow morning. that's when we think the earliest could be for us to get details how these talks between

senator mcconnell and vice president biden are going. there you go, three points where we are tonight. >> thank you very much. we'll get back to you. if you get anything new, let us know. i want to bring in now dr. keith back, he's a doctor at cedars sinai medical center. he's going to give us more information on secretary of state hillary clinton. right now when you say these anticoagulants, it would appear to us that it would be much -- a much better prognosis or diagnosis now, it's not in her brain if she's being treated for that and it's somewhere else in the body and it's a d.v.t., a deep vein thrombosis. >> that is correct. it's a much less serious situation, blood clot in the leg than a clot in the brain. these are not uncommon. mostly always resolved, particularly if they are treated early and appropriately.

treatment is anticoagulation to prevent the clot from expanding, to allow the clot time to resolve and heal and prevent the clot from causing more damage by breaking off and causing a clot within the lung. >> and, again, i do want to say we don't know exactly where it is, and because of the type of medication they are using to treat her, you are assuming, and this is what you would do if you were diagnosing somebody with a d.v.t., right? >> correct. we're working with limited information, but we assume if they are treating her with anticoagulation therapy, her brain scans, mri scans, must not show any evidence of bleeding, because if they did, that would be an indication to putting one on a blood thinner. >> doctor, stand by. i want to update our viewers,

then we'll get back to you. the reason we're on live now, we're in taped programming, but breaking news is secretary of state hillary clinton is being hospitalized treated for a blood clot. not exactly sure where the clot is. again, limited information, but we know back on december 15th that she sustained a concussion after becoming dehydrated. she fainted, had a stomach virus, then she fell and suffered a concussion and now she went back for a checkup and doctors discovered she had a blood clot. this is the latest information from a spokesperson that says she was admitted to new york hospital, new york presbyterian hospital after the discovery of a blood clot stemming from a concussion she sustained earlier this month. her spokesman said her doctors discovered the clot during follow-up exam on sunday and she's being treated with anticoagula anticoagulants. she was admitted to the hospital so doctors can monitor her condition over the next 48 hours, including other issues

associated with her concussion. what happens next, doctor, do they monitor her the next 48 hours, if all is well, wean her off the medication and she goes home? what usually happens here? >> again, we're speculating, but depending on the type of blood thinner that they put her on, one type would require you to make sure that the amount of antiblood clotting activity in the blood is within the therapeutic range. normally that would take a fair amount of time to achieve and patient will stay in the hospital, you know, until you can verify with blood tests that level has been achieved. typically, the patient will stay on that medication for a period of weeks until it's clear that the clot has resolved and healed, and then they would come off the medication. >> dr. keith black, chairman of the neurosurgery department at

cedars sinai medical center. secretary hillary clinton in the hospital tonight with a blood clot. breaking news right after this break. again? it's embarrassing it's embarrassing! we can see you carl. we can totally see you. come on you're better than this...all that prowling around. yeah, you're the king of the jungle. have you thought about going vegan carl? hahaha!! you know folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than antelope with night-vision goggles. nice! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the market, he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and being ready, no matter what happens,

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welcome back to cnn. breaking news, secretary of state hillary clinton in the hospital tonight being treated -- new york hospital, being treated for a blood clot. the secretary sustained a concussion after becoming dehydrated and fainting on december 15th. she had a stomach virus, became dehydrated, fainted, and suffered a concussion. here is the latest, the latest, from her spokesperson. if we can put that up on screen. her spokesperson says in the course of a follow-up exam today, secretary clinton's doctors discovered a blood clot had formed stemming from a concussion she had sustained several weeks ago. she's being treated with anticoagulant and is at the hospital so they can monitor the situation. her doctors will continue to assess her condition. they will determine if any other -- any further action is required. i want to go to cnn's elise labbot now. elise, you've worked at the state department, washington, you've traveled with the

secretary of state. i was talking to our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin about her grueling schedule. her doctors told her to stop her travel schedule until she got better, and now this. you can see why, things like this, they can become more serious if you continue to try to push through these situations. >> and, don, secretary clinton is someone always pushing through. this is a woman who keeps a grueling schedule in washington and on the road. i mean, we travel with her, we can barely keep up with her, the journalists and her staff, there is always another meeting, always another group. this isn't someone who will have a meeting and dinner with a foreign leader, she's reaching out, going to civil society groups, having town halls. i've woken up in a recent trip to the middle east, woke up in tunisia, flew to nigeria, flew to moe ra morocco all in one da.

so if you have a illness like a stomach virus and suffering a concussion, it's really, obviously, taken its toll on her. she did a recent interview with barbara walters and there was a lot of speculation about whether she would run. she said, i am really tired. i am really tired. i think everyone knows until the day that she finishes office until the day she -- john kerry, tapped by president obama will come into the office, she wanted to work until the very last day, but obviously this has all taken, as jessica said, a real cumulative effect. when you're that age and you have a serious injury and indivs taken its toll. >> she's relentless and she is one of those people from, you know, her husband and her, i've

seen them at events, every hand they shake, usually the first people to enter the room and the last people to leave. and she is committed as secretary of state and the president has said as much just recently over the past couple weeks. >> that's right. there's always another hand to shake, even the person that will serve the tea or the waiter, she's always talking. and when you talk about having a brain injury and her doctors have said don't work, don't have any strenuous activity, this is someone who's always thinking. she always remembers a name, she always remembers a face, how she knew that person, a story back from her days as first lady when she first met them. this is someone who's always got an idea, always trying to push it forward. my understanding in the last few weeks is she was covering one of the things that was a problem was that her doctors and friends and family were trying to get her not to work because she -- even though she wasn't feeling

good, she was very anxious to get back to work, as we've been talking about, she was itching, i think, to testify on the benghazi issue, because if there is any way that she would want to run in 2016 for president, she wants to put this behind her. there have been a lot of speculation as we've been discussing about whether she was faking her illness, dodging the testimony, no, my understanding is she was really looking to have her word heard on the issue. she took full responsibility for the benghazi issue in an interview with me and cnn several months ago, and i think she was really looking to put herself on the record, so this is a real setback for her, but i'm sure that we haven't heard the last of hillary clinton on the benghazi issue. >> yes, absolutely. elise, thank you very much. thank you, i appreciate that. i just hung up viewers with our dr. sanjay gupta. he is calling in and dr. gupta

will give us more information on this on the other side of the break. also on the other side of the break, we're going to talk about the fiscal cliff. negotiations still going on. two breaking news stories here tonight on cnn and we're following both of them. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him,

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[ male announcer ] the sprint drive first app. blocks and replies to texts while you drive. we can live without the &. visit sprint.com/drive. following two breaking news stories on cnn. secretary of state hillary clinton in the hospital being treated for a blood clot. we're getting new information on what's going on with her. new york hospital, new york presbyterian to be specific. she went in after suffering a concussion when she became dizzy and fell after she had a stomach virus and her doctors were doing a followup on her and discovered a clot and are treating her now with anticoagulants. when we get more information on that and sanjay gupta is going to talk to us about that.

fiscal cliff negotiations still going on in washington. we have less than 30 hours before we head over the fiscal cliff. tax hikes will kick in and other measures that won't be good for your paychecks and your wallet. we'll continue to follow that. we have our staff, correspondents, up on capitol hill following the latest. in the meantime, let's get back to our hillary clinton story. jessica yellin has traveled a lot with the former first lady and secretary of state. jess, we talked about her grueling schedule again. we're working with very limited information. we know she's being treated and what she's being treated with. we don't know exactly where this clot is. >> we don't. i do get the sense from people who are close to her that they feel she's going to be okay. but, of course, there's a lot of, you know, upset and concern because it's been some two weeks now that this woman who is constantly on the go has had such a bad case of first the flu and then a concussion and now this that she's had to be

completely grounded. that's what just stuns the people around her. usually she's the one telling them to come on, keep going, she's always up and on the go and the fact that she actually is ill in this seriously sick is just completely confounding and unusual to them. so, you know, this is a woman who's traveled almost 1 million miles, some 400 different -- i think it's 400 countries, i think, and she's just nonstop. and she is somebody the president described as tireless and extraordinary. he even, you know, didn't want to -- he said didn't want to announce john kerry as the new secretary of state while she was not available to be there when he was doing it. and she's exceptionally energet energetic, but this is an awkward experience also because

it's coming at this time right after if we look at it through the political prism, the attack in libya, the death of these americans, she was expected to testify on capitol hill and answer questions from members of congress about where there wasn't more diplomatic security and it's happened, her illness happened right when she was available to testify and a lot of critics said this was, quote, a convenient concussion and she was essentially accusing her of faking it just so she couldn't testify. it simply wasn't the case and, you know, now we really know it wasn't the case. >> it wasn't the case. >> and i think sanjay will be able to speak to this quite clearly, but part of the reason as i said before, she couldn't testify is because not just the stress of going up and answering questions but the murder boards you have to do, the preparation you have to do, which is a strain on the brain. and now we know that she suffered even worse consequences from falling and hitting her

head, don. >> i want to bring in dr. sanjay gupta. he's on the phone now. here's the latest, in the course of a follow-up exam today, secretary clinton's doctors discovered a blood clot had formed stemming from a concussion she sustained several weeks ago. she's being treated with anticoagulants and is at new york presbyterian hospital. her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion. they will determine if any further action is required. this is your baillie wig, hearing that, what do you say? >> couple things jump out right away, don. first off, this sounds like it's a follow-up exam as opposed to her going in for something specific. i know she was at home, we reported on this at the time she hader concussion, at that time the doctors were comfortable with her being at home. she goes in for a follow-up

exam, they discover a blood clot is all they say and they are treating her with anticoagulant medication that requires her to be in the hospital for 48 hours. most likely this is a blood clot that's located in her legs known as a deep vein thrombosis, not something that's directly related to the concussion. i think it was a little bit confusing the way that the secretary's office sort of put out that statement, but you typically -- anticoagulants, blood thinners, as they are, are typically used to try and address a deep veinous thrombosis as opposed to a blood clot in the brain. that needs to be something that's clarified and i hope we hear more from the secretary's office on that issue. but as jessica said, a concussion is a brain injury, don. people call it a concussion, i think, and that sometimes minimizes what it is. it's a type of brain injury that requires somebody be at brain rest and requires they oftentimes not do much, be

sitting around sort of, you know, not as active. and that could put someone at greater risk of a deep veinous thrombosis, as well. but details still coming in. that's how i'm putting it together right now. >> sanjay, sorry, someone was talking to me and i didn't hear the end of what you said, but, again, one would think that if it is, as you said, d.v.t., which can be very serious, that's a much better diagnosis than having a clot somewhere in her head or on the brain. >> no question about that, and, again, just a simple point of fact, if someone has a blood clot that is formed on the brain in response to a head injury or a concussion in this case, blood thinners are not typically used because that can worsen the bleeding on the brain and also prohibit an operation if an operation is necessary. again, nobody is saying that, but this is most likely, again, based on somewhat vague

information from the secretary's office, most likely a clot in the leg, which as you point out, can be a serious event, but something that can be easily, easily addressed at the hospital where she is. >> dr. sanjay gupta, thank you very much, doctor, for calling in and explaining to our viewers exactly what's going on. of course, you know, dr. gupta's a neurosurgeon and this is exactly the kinds of injuries that he treats. so dr. gupta, thank you very much. we'll get back to you in the 10:00 p.m. hour, if it is warranted. i want to tell our viewers we'll continue to update you on the issue with the secretary of state. again, we don't know exactly where this clot was found, very limited information, but we're being told it was a checkup from her concussion and also because of the stomach flu or stomach virus she had gotten, which caused her to be dizzy and fall and suffer a concussion, and now this blood clot. she's being treated with anticoagulants, which a blood thinner. we'll continue to follow that. new york-presbyterian hospital. that's where the secretary of

state is. we'll also continue to follow the negotiations going on now on capitol hill, the fiscal cliff, what it means to your and your wallet. you could wake up tomorrow with a much different income and a much different paycheck because congress may not have gotten its act together overnight. we'll continue to follow that for you if there's any other breaking news, we'll come back and break into taped programming, otherwise i will see you at 10:00 p.m. eastern with the latest information. i'm don lemon. comfortable sleer experience. a collection of innovations designed around a bed with dualair technology that allows you to adjust to the support your body needs - each of your bodies. our sleep professionals will help you find your sleep number setting. exclusively at a sleep number store. comfort individualized. save 50% on the final closeout of our silver limited edition bed plus special financing through new years day.